Bournemouth Chamber of Trade & Commerce

Bournemouth Chamber of Trade and Commerce

BELONG. CONNECT. PROSPER

Investors attention piqued by a digital fundraising business and a personal safety solutions company at Dorset Business Angels pitch event

Dorset Business Angels met for their 2nd online pitch event in 2021 with some 40 attendees from across the UK & abroad. Pitching businesses have 10 minutes to present to the Angels, after which there is 5 minutes of Q & A, followed by discussions between the would-be investors on their decision to carry out further due diligence with a view to invest. Investors register their interest by taking part in an online polling system.

A company providing digital fundraising services that ensures that charities and funders are able to replace collecting cash donations with a digital solution made a compelling pitch. With UK charities receiving over 50% of their £10B revenue in cash every year, the business is planning contactless donation terminals for later on this year, with the ambition of making the total package a ‘one-stop shop’ for any community organisation’s digital fundraising needs.  Identifying a huge addressable market of 1.5 million community organisations, the business advised that it can deliver urgently needed additional funds, more ways to raise funds and broader funding options to this underserved sector, and all from a single provider and ‘build a digital fundraising eco system’.  2 expressions of interest were made.

A Personal Safety Solutions business whose service has been thrust into the limelight by a number of recent tragic events has achieved 450,000 downloads this year, against a 250,000 target and its strapline was quoted to the investor audience – ‘Safety isn’t expensive, it’s priceless’. The founder described his motivation for creating the App, which was achieved after his daughter in law was the victim of an assault and led to family members pulling together their skills to develop and achieve the safety App, which aims to be a leader in female safety.

The business, whose mission is to offer the public a means to control their own personal safety, recently received over 300,000 downloads in a matter of days and in March achieved No. 1 on the App store.  At a time when knife crime, assaults, mugging and sexual harassment are increasing, their platform provides a map showing all the recent crime spots, allowing users to plan routes, away from streets with regular crime histories. The app can also scan the road ahead whilst users are walking or exercising and will alert them if they are walking towards a danger zone.

It is the company’s belief that the development and commercialisation of their platform will change the world of personal security. The founder director reported that 1,228,500 violent crimes were reported by police in 2020 and that increased knife crime and assault remains a major issue and a real opportunity for a personal safety app.   Seeking to raise £250,000, the funds would be used to commercialise and monetise the app, with the ambition of growing its users, to trigger subscriptions and achieve a high value exit through acquisition – targeting map software such as Google Maps, Apple Maps, Uber, Deliveroo, dating apps etc. 5 expressions of investor interest were made.

DBA zoom host, Frank Guinn said, “Once again, this was a well- attended event online.  We are thoroughly looking forward, however, to moving our pitch events back to ‘in person’, albeit alternating with online events in the coming months.”

Roger Wareham, Head of Office and Partner at DBA Sponsors Saffery Champness advised, “DBA always choose an excellent, wide range of businesses to pitch.  It is also really encouraging to see the level of interest and potential appetite from the investors attending.”

DBA was formed in 2013 with the aim to bring investors and entrepreneurs together to accelerate the growth of early -stage businesses. DBA provides quality, private equity investment opportunities to local high net worth (HNW) and sophisticated investors (SI).

Four times a year companies are invited to attend an event at which they pitch their business to the savvy Angels in a Dragon’s Den type scenario. Angel investment might come from a single investor or it could be 2 or 3 Angels pooling funds together to support a company. Any investments are in the form of an equity investment and not a debtor’s loan. Investments are made across all sectors.

DBA is sponsored by Saffery Champness Accountants, Ellis Jones Solicitors and Investec Wealth and Investment. To find out more about Dorset Business Angels visit  www.dorsetbusinessangels.co.uk

The A-Z of Angel Investing – an event to encourage more women into Angel investing

Dorset Business Angels (DBA) is to host a brand- new event with the aim of encouraging more women into Angel investing.  The webinar will take place on May 18th, entitled the ‘A-Z of Angel Investing’, and will be hosted by UK Business Angels CEO Jenny Tooth OBE.

Jenny advised, “I am thrilled to be hosting this event and welcoming a wonderful mix of women from across the UK, keen to learn more about the possibilities and opportunities in Angel Investing.  Recent research into women in Angel investing has shown that the proportion of women investors is very low compared to their male counterparts, with 85% of investors being male and yet the national picture shows that 45% of the nation’s wealth is owned by women. We are keen to investigate the reasons behind this and change the statistics.

“Angel investors come from a diverse range of backgrounds, but nearly all have one goal in common – they want to use their money and experience to help young entrepreneurs scale up their businesses to the point where they will achieve a successful exit over a 5-7 year time frame.

“The programme will include:

• An overview of Angel funding
• What to look for in a pitch
• Building an investment strategy
• Explanation of the risk awareness journey
• The opportunities and challenges as a female investor

“We also look forward to welcoming guest speakers from our DBA event Partners and Sponsors, with presentations from Saffery Champness Accountants Partner Hannah Mazrae, Ellis Jones Solicitors Partner Kate Brooks and Senior Investment Director Hannah Dampney and Financial Planning Director Amanda Cook from Investec Wealth & Investment. Each will be sharing their relevant professional and financial areas of expertise to support the Angel investing process.”

To find out more about the event, register through the link below. http://bit.ly/317VOnI

DBA was formed in 2013 with the aim to bring investors and entrepreneurs together to accelerate the growth of early- stage businesses. DBA provides quality, private equity investment opportunities to local high net worth (HNW) and sophisticated investors (SI).

Four times a year companies are invited to attend an event at which they pitch their business to the savvy Angels in a Dragon’s Den type scenario. Angel investment might come from a single investor or it could be 2 or 3 Angels pooling funds together to support a company. Any investments are in the form of an equity investment and not a debtor’s loan. Investments are made across all sectors.

 

New Investor P​olling system enables investors to interact and privately register interest

Dorset Business Angels (DBA) held their first online quarterly pitch event in 2021, attracting a record number of some 59 attendees registered and 30 DBA members present. It also saw the introduction of a new polling system.

5 entrepreneurs pitched to the savvy investors and partners. Pitches were followed by a Q & A session, whereby would- be investors could further interrogate the entrepreneurs on their business, ideas and potential opportunities and markets. Questions came from across the board.

A new polling system was then introduced in which attendees were asked to rate the presentation that they had just heard and also to register their interest to find out further information about the pitch and carry out due diligence on the investment opportunity.

DBA member Frank Guinn who chaired the event said, “The polling proved particularly impactful as it provided us with immediate levels of investor interest.  Coincidently, our investor interest was at an all- time high, for the 2nd consecutive pitch event, and we felt that the anonymous system allowed attendees the privacy to express their intentions to get involved.  21 expressions of interest were shown in total at our event.

“The investor feedback on the presentations also provided invaluable data to be fed back to the entrepreneurs presenting.”

Business pitching included:

·       A business in the Advanced composite materials sector, with aims to increase the capabilities of the world’s most demanding products through the application of advanced materials and manufacturing techniques. In revenue and with an expanding customer base, the Company is currently focussing on the delivery of key contracts in the automotive, electrification, electric machines, defence, and aerospace sectors.  Investors were particularly impressed by the list of businesses and sectors that were being supported – Airbus, Safran and Electric Motors & Generators were name dropped, to name a few. The ambition of ‘Sustainability with Enhanced Capability’ was shared and the impressive pitch resulted in an extremely positive 9 expressions of interest.

·       A provider of online education seized the moment and grabbed investor attention, with 4 expressions of interest shown. This currently ‘hot topic’ business stated that it focuses on life skills that promote social and emotional wellbeing and dynamic thinking with an aim is to help young people to thrive in life, both at home and in their future work-places. By complementing the traditional academic education with live, interactive online and offline courses for 5-13 year-olds, they help develop young people’s skills in leadership, confidence, resilience and creative problem solving.

They shared their vision to be a global leader in developing life skills, with the goal of transforming the lives of at least a million young people. They backed up their vision by advising that ‘now, more than ever, the world needs people with the empathy, resilience and confidence to thrive.’

Discussing the size of the opportunity, they explained that the UK private tuition market is worth £2bn and the global private tuition market £75bn, with a forecast that the global private tuition market would be worth £139bn by 2026.

·       A Customer Data Processing software business which offers its clients a platform that immediately creates a seamless customer experience easily and at scale. Formed 5 years ago with the founder’s own money, the Company is now employing AI techniques to further enhance the efficiency of their model, to the satisfaction of their growing client base.

It claims to view complete customer profiles, improve and enrich data, understand customers and develop strategies to help the business grow, activate the date across all customer touch points and to measure the success and effectiveness of strategies. Currently working with Crowdcube, they shared the impressive testimonial from Crowdcube co-founder and CMO Luke Lang who said, “Crowdcube literally wouldn’t be where it is today without Distil.”  5 expressions of investor interest were shown.

·       A company with a range of healthy drinks, containing all the nutrients necessary to produce many tasty options, without the sugar and artificial ingredients usually found in traditional soft drinks. Their ‘health pod’ modules offer users the facility to use their home coffee machines to provide a quick and easy way to get these nutrients into a cold press juice or smoothy for around 70p per unit. UK distribution is now ramping up with the product available in 5 supermarket chains and the Company is distributing their range door-to-door in over 50 countries. The product launches in the US in January.

The passionate founder of the business shared the experience of his team, which includes 4 investor directors with experience ranging from entry and exit for FMCG brands, to former directors of investment banks.  He also told investors that he is mentored by Stephen Hann, MD at Graze. Clients gained have included John Lewis, Morrisons, Holland & Barret, Costco and David Lloyd Clubs. 2 expressions of interest were shown.

·       A pre-launch Fintech Investor Analysis SaaS company that has developed a platform that tracks the data performance of private, early-stage companies and gathers operational metrics. The platform is now capable of profiling the investment readiness and business potential of start-ups and early revenue companies extremely well. In the present pre-launch phase, the Company has 12 customers paying monthly recurring revenues and has generated 1300 worldwide data profiles that help with the investment analysis and business decision making of its current users, namely, angel investors, accelerators, funds, support organisations and consultants.  1 expression of interest was received.

Roger Wareham, Partner at DBA Sponsors Saffery Champness advised, “It was great to see such a wide range of businesses pitching and pleasing that there is still positive growth and opportunities coming through. It was also really encouraging to see the level of interest and potential appetite from the investors attending.”

DBA was formed in 2013 with the aim to bring investors and entrepreneurs together to accelerate the growth of early stage businesses. DBA provides quality, private equity investment opportunities to local high net worth (HNW) and sophisticated investors (SI).

Four times a year companies are invited to attend an event at which they pitch their business to the savvy Angels in a Dragon’s Den type scenario. Angel investment might come from a single investor or it could be 2 or 3 Angels pooling funds together to support a company. Any investments are in the form of an equity investment and not a debtor’s loan. Investments are made across all sectors.

DBA is sponsored by Saffery Champness Accountants, Ellis Jones Solicitors and Investec Wealth and Investment. To find out more about Dorset Business Angels visit  www.dorsetbusinessangels.co.uk